Goin’ Country in Nashville [September 7, 2016]

Introducing the next new Country singers at the Grand Ole Opry

When you think of Nashville, you think of Country Music.  We spent a day immersing ourselves in locations important to Country Music. 

The Grand Ole Opry House

To start, we visited the Grand Ole Opry House, the current auditorium where the venerable Saturday night radio show is broadcast.  There are also shows on Tuesday, and Friday each week.  The Opry has been housed at this location since 1974.  The backstage tour takes you past the “cast” entrance and through a variety of dressing rooms and the “green room” where everyone waits for their turn on stage.  Country Music stars are invited to become members of the Opry, it is considered a great honor.  Interestingly, there is a mail center, where members of the Opry pick up fan mail in post boxes.  The tour takes you through the wings where the house musicians warm up and the techs hang out.  Then, you get to walk on stage and stand at the microphone center stage.  Inset into the stage is a circular piece of the stage from the Ryman Auditorium, the home of the Opry for 30 years before moving to this location.  The tour is full of the history and lore of Country Music

One of the dressing rooms

The Grand Ole Opry House is outside of town and part of a huge complex of hotel/conference center and outlet mall.  Just down Music Valley Drive from there are three campgrounds, one of which was ours.

Seats 4,400, note the pew seating, a carry over from the Ryman days.

The Opry was actually housed in a variety of venues before the building of the Grand Ole Opry House, but the best known is the Ryman Auditorium, home to the Opry from 1943 – 1974.  It is located downtown.  They do a really great job at the Ryman telling you their history.  In 1885, steamboat magnate Thomas Ryman was “saved” by the Rev. Samuel Jones.  In order to give Rev. Jones a place to spread his gospel, Ryman put up his own money and raised $100,000 more to build the Union Gospel Tabernacle which opened in 1890.  The name was changed to Ryman Auditorium upon the death of Thomas Ryman.  They soon realized that hosting revivals did not bring in sufficient income to keep the lights on, so they branched out to hosting political and cultural events.  In stepped Lula Naff as the Manager of the facility.  She became prominent in booking all kinds of plays, music and other events, at a time when women were not active in business, especially in Nashville.  With the Opry as a tenant for 30 years, the Ryman became synonymous with County Music, gaining the moniker the Mother Church of Country Music.  Eventually, the Ryman started needing repairs, and the Opry needed a larger venue, so the Opry moved out.  The Ryman fell into disrepair, and was being considered for demolition.  A coalition of Country Music icons and fans pulled together funds for its renovation.  Now it is an active venue for all kinds of music concerts and other attractions.  At the time we were there, they were prepping for a Garth Brooks concert.

The Ryman Auditorium

From the Ryman we headed a block over to the District, an area of restaurants, honky tonks and western wear stores along Broadway.  As you walk along, you hear music wannabes playing inside the honky tonks and some out on the street (in 90+ degree weather).  We selected a barbeque joint, with shaded outside seating, a view of the Ryman and music heard from a distance.

Seats 2,362

Last stop, the Country Music Hall of Fame, just a few blocks further on from the District.  There are the requisite display cases with costumes, instruments and other paraphernalia and brief descriptions of different artists through history.  The open, modern building doesn’t really lend itself to linear, historical displays so you kind of wander through, stopping at something that looks interesting to you.  We enjoyed the video monitors, particularly the footage of early performers in what is now considered the roots of County Music.  There were special exhibits about Alabama, the Zac Brown Band, and Blake Shelton.  There was an interesting exhibit about Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan’s collaboration, and how it stimulated an influx of musicians outside of Country Music into Nashville and the resulting cross pollination of musical ideas.

They discovered this stencil work on the Ryman balcony during renovation.

Pew seating at the Ryman is replicated at the newer Opry House

Roy Acuff and Minne Pearl, considered to be the parents of the Grand Ole Opry.

Getting to Know President Andrew Jackson – The Hermitage, Nashville TN [September 6, 2016]

Here we are on the front porch of the Hermitage

President Andrew Jackson is a controversial character in American History, and therefore a very interesting one.  He fought in the American Revolution as a 13 year old, was orphaned at 14, is well-known as the hero of the Battle of New Orleans at the close of the War of 1812, and became the 7^th US President.  He is the first US President to have a nickname, Old Hickory, which his troops gave him because he was as tough as old hickory.  He was a self made man.  The Hermitage was his home from 1804 until his death in 1845.

The Hermitage seen from the rear with Alfred's slave cabin in the foreground

What sets the Hermitage apart from other historic Presidential homes, is that the Andrew Jackson Visitor Center explains the cultural and political turmoil of his time, and sets it in context to today.  Some of his decisions were good - he “popularized” the US government, tearing down what he considered elitist government traditions.  Some of his decisions were not so good - he set up processes for removing Indians from their lands.  The exhibit explains the electoral college – Jackson was defeated there after his first run for President – and draws connections to the Bush/Gore election.  The Visitors Center is VERY well done and worth an hour or so of your time.

The Hermitage from the front

From the Visitor Center, you move to the grounds and the mansion.  Costumed interpreters take you through the house.  An audio tour takes you around the grounds.  Andrew and Rachel Jackson adopted one of the twin sons of Rachel’s brother who lived nearby, so that they could have an heir.  Andrew Jackson, Jr. was not a good businessman and the estate that entrepreneurial Jackson, Sr built soon fell into debt.  Because of that, the family was unable to paint walls, and replace furniture.  This was a boon to historians who received the house generations later with the original wall paper and furnishings intact.  The tour of the house is very interesting, especially with so many original furnishings.

A slave cabin believed to have been built with timbers from the 2nd story of the original residence

Efforts have been made to restore slave quarters on the grounds.  Compared to the splendor of the brick mansion, the rough log structures are tiny and sobering.  When Andrew and Rachel Jackson first lived on the property, they lived in a two story log structure.  After the mansion was built, they took the second story off of the building, made the one story building into slave quarters, and used the logs from the upper story to build another slave cabin.  One slave, Alfred, continued to live in one of the cabins after he had been freed, and even after the house was opened to the public as a tourist attraction (there are old photos of an elderly Alfred with visitors to the site).  In fact, when Jackson descendants started selling off furniture to pay debts, Alfred bought some of pieces to furnish his log cabin.

It is hard to imagine how far into the frontier Nashville was at the time that Andrew Jackson lived at the Hermitage.  When guests came to visit, the trip there was so long and arduous that they stayed for a while.  It is said that the Jackson family never ate meals alone, there was always a guest present. 

Chattanooga Choo Choo -- The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum [September 4, 2016]

Boarding the Mission Ridge Local

The history of Chattanooga TN is closely tied to the development of railroad routes through the town.  The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum located there restores old locomotives and railroad cars.  Visitors to the museum can walk among the restored cars in a train yard.  They can also select one of several train rides.

A real live steam engine!

We went on the Missionary Ridge Local, three restored passenger cars of different vintages pulled by a steam locomotive.  A real life steam locomotive, complete with coal car!  We traveled along an old train route through the outskirts of Chattanooga. 

East Chattanooga station

The turnstile for the locomotive

Then we got off the train at the Civil War vintage East Chattanooga station and watched as our locomotive was detached from the train and then turned to go in the other direction on an old-fashioned turnstile.  The locomotive went back along another track to the “new” front of the passenger cars to hook up and take us home.

Where the restoration gets done

As the locomotive was being attached we went to a huge warehouse where TVRM restores its trains and makes sure that the ones being used are well maintained and safe.  There are maintenance chambers below floor level for mechanics to use to work on the undersides.

Back at the TVRM station at Grand Junction

This unusual museum calls itself a rolling museum, because the exhibits are the train rides themselves.

After our train ride, we joined Leslie and Natalie for lunch and a trip to the fabulous Chattanooga Aquarium.  The Aquarium has two buildings, one for fresh water exhibits and one for salt water exhibits.  Another location worth a visit!